Summerslam 2018

[tiger_rick]

Ambrose looked at Seth so heelish at the end, it's surely a matter of time.

Main event was a car crash. But despite the chants, etc, you've still got a full arena again, millions of subscribers. Did the crowd all walk out? No, of course not. Because they always watch regardless.

The best heel in the business gets dueling chants. Ronda gets thumbs down from some while lifting the title. Becky turns heel and the crowd go apeshit (accept they've booked "babyface" Charlotte like a cunt).

I don't know how to read this audience. God knows how they do.

Heel Roman with Heyman was a wet dream but regardless, Roman had to leave with the belt. He couldn't afford to look fucking stupid again. Strowman still having the case is good for them. Time to reset Raw.

[Supremo]

I feel the worst for poor Kevin Owens. Literally bouncing off metal to make Braun look like a superstar, then Braun’s made to look a complete clown three hours later. 

I wouldn’t haven’t even minded if the turn didn’t involve Heyman. That’s the dream scenario, but not what matters the most. Imagine instead of cutting the feed so quickly, Roman just grinned like a dickhead and gave the crowd the double middle fingers. I feel like I’ve waited forever to see that. Every time a PPV goes off the air with him being booed, the whole thing turns around if he’s just allowed to acknowledge it. Instead, we end a 500 day Title reign and they’re legitimately too scared to keep the cameras and microphones rolling. It’s so crazy.

[TildeGuy~!]

All the pre show matches ended in roll ups, 

3 squash matches, 2 DQ finishes.  God I hate the booking team.

[Supremo]

The squash matches were arguably the best part of the show! Half the problem with this company is that everyone wrestles everyone else in dead boring, long matches where even if you win you don’t come across as particularly dominant or impressive.

It was a massive breath of fresh air that a couple of matches specifically positioned people as vastly superior to their opponents. That Finn Balor squash especially. If they build on that and make a huge deal about how unstoppable The Demon is, that’d go a long way to setting him up as a main eventer. Even if I’m not the biggest fan of Finn, there’s no denying putting on the paint and smashing Corbin like that was one of the best thing he’s done in the last twelve months. 

[ColinBollocks]

Bang on. The problem with The Demon previously was they give it the big 'in but then Finn turned up and wrestles the same. Having The Demon be something impressive is the way to go.

[neil is brill]

What's the total obsession with fans wanting everyone to turn heel? I understand it in Romans case, because fuck me, the situation is dire, but everywhere I've been online in the past few hours all I've read is "Why didn't Ambrose turn heel?" or "Natalya should've turned heel on Ronda." or "AJ should've done a heel turn on Joe by having his wife run-in!"

That last one being utterly ridiculous because how do you turn heel on a heel?

How many heels do we need? Especially ones that will get cheered anyway, like Becky. I truly don't understand the "turn 'em heel so we can cheer them like faces" logic.

[cobra_gordo]

My issue with the main was that when Braun walked out I thought, brilliant, triple-threat, they can have Strowman pin Lesnar so he doesn't look a twat for cashing in and not losing, Reigns doesn't have to eat the pin, the show won't end on boos. And then that happened. Christ, I'd have even taken Strowman coming out after Reigns had won, pop the crowd and say "I'm cashing in Roman...... tomorrow" and then fucks off. They might have then at least been able to close the show with some residual cheers from that.
Admittedly I really liked the start of the match, with Reigns going on the attack straight away and the two chokes he got out of by lifting Lesnar up made him look hard as nails. Like @Supremo says though, that bait and switch and closing the show down as quick as they did left a sour taste.

[cobra_gordo]

34 minutes ago, neil is brill said:

How many heels do we need? Especially ones that will get cheered anyway, like Becky.

I've not followed the Charlotte/ Becky story but going off the video package before the match Charlotte seems to have been acting the total bitch in the build up and Becky lamping her seemed justified, is that not the case?

Speaking of the women, couldn't help but think of this the second I saw Ronda's weird eye makeup.

[neil is brill]

I've not followed it closely either, but the hype video before the match showed Becky beating Carmella non-title to earn her shot.

Charlotte saving Becky from a beatdown. The total bitch.

Paige then makes Charlotte vs. Carmella with the stipulation that it becomes a triple threat if Charlotte wins. Charlotte won.

Becky then moans that the "hill she has to climb has now become a little steeper." Then we get the "we used to be PCB, may the best woman win" stuff between them.

Then Becky gets pinned at SummerSlam because she took her eye off the 3rd participant in a triple threat, like an idiot.

Not sure if it was presented differently on TV, but the hype package didn't show Flair being a bitch at all.

[cobra_gordo]

In my defence, I was tired at the time.I've quite clearly misinterpreted it and had a mare. Also, with Charlotte, my instant assumption is that she's a permaheel, as she should be.

[Fatty Facesitter]

Everything on the pre-show can go straight in the bin. The mixed tag was sloppy as fuck, the CW title match had no heat and was bang average considering the standard both guys have previously delivered, and if that Go Go Go chant with the B-Team catches on I think I'm going to be physically ill. 

Joe/AJ was the best thing on the show. Rollins/Ziggler was good, but I'm scarred at this having been what's felt like the 100th match in the series between them. Bryan/Miz was also good - built nicely and a rare instance of a finish making sense on the show which allows things to continue going into the fall. No problem with Rousey dominating and winning - she should have been booked like this from the start. Yay for Demon Balor. 

We'll all carry on watching in spite of ourselves and WWE is the juggernaut that will never die, so none of the booking decisions really matter that much on these shows anymore, but some of the creative tonight reached an entirely new low even for them. Elias breaks his guitar and there's no payoff...he just walks off. What's the point? Randy Orton has looked like a vicious bastard in recent weeks and has even been cutting great promos - he comes out looking like he's going to physically gib death Jeff Hardy, then has second thoughts and just walks away? What's the point? You have New Day win a pretty well-booked tournament to fight for the tag titles and they book a finish like that which does absolutely fuck all for anyone involved and renders that tournament meaningless? Again, what's the point? Braun Strowman comes out an reveals he's not going to cash in the title shot in a cowardly way...then proceeds to tell both Lesnar and Reigns that he's going to wait until their done a cash it in a cowardly way? Then after Owens has wrecked himself AGAIN for Strowman in the process, they throw everything away like that in the main event?! Again, I ask, what's the fucking point?

Despite a few bright spots, it's not enough to rescue the wreck of what's supposed to be their second biggest show of the year. The length is just soul-destroying especially if you subject yourself to the pre-show tripe. The length could potentially work but the placing of certain matches left a lot to be desired. Also, the SD women's title triple threat and Nakamura/Hardy were both toilet. So many sloppy spots in the triple threat and a turn you could see coming a mile away, putting them in a awkward position in the process because although Becky's meant to be the heel/aggressor, she got the biggest pop of the night! Jeff Hardy will always be one of my favourites and it's great to have him around still doing this at his age, but don't put the poor cunt through such a ridiculous schedule after twenty years of jumping off of shit and wrecking his lower back with those Swantons for you because it's really catching up with him now. Don't put a match like that on two slots before the main event when the crowd is already wiped out either. 

I said in the NXT thread that Summerslam wouldn't even come close to TakeOver and I was correct. A major difference immediately noticeable is probably the importance of the title matches. All four of NXT's title matches felt like an absolutely massive deal because of how they've presented the belts and the respective rivalries. There were NINE title matches on the show here, which is already too many, and with the raw women's title perhaps being an exception for the Rousey factor, I just couldn't get excited for anything else.  

NXT workers have a lighter schedule in terms of travel and the dates they work which is fair enough, but if your main roster can't deliver the same or even better their in-ring output on one of the biggest shows of the year as a collective, then they seriously need to look at how they manage the talent. Booking will always be subjective, but some of what I saw tonight just lacked pace, lacked energy and at times looked really fucking amateur. I legit think they need to look at talent rotation - I appreciate they have five hours of Raw/Smackdown to fill every week but there's no reason it can't be done with careful planning/putting packages together for people on shows who aren't around. You could rotate some of the main rivalries each month for instance, while workers who are working a lighter schedule for a month can just squash jobbers once a fortnight to keep them relevant without putting them through the ringer every week for the sake of nonsense 50/50 booking that kills both workers' momentum and wears them out in the process. 

It must be slightly soul-destroying for the talent too, knowing no matter what they do to try and get over and stay over, they'll just get lost in the shuffle no matter what because of that mad, senile old bastard. 

 

[DCW]

WWE should have got on to Sol Dangerfield's casting agency and asked for a 40 year old scorcher to play AJ Styles wife. 

[TheTonetta]

Braun in kayfabe is Sting levels of moronic. 

[AndyUK]

Funnily enough, and it is probably a case of how low my expectations have fallen for the second biggest show of the year, I actually didn't mind most of the booking on this.

With Reigns/Lesnar, I was just happy to finally get the belt off Brock and get this shit over and done with. I already assumed Braun was out of action after the Brock stuff so was fine with that. The squash matches were a nice change in pace after we got three good long matches in Rollins/Ziggler, Styles/Joe and Miz/Bryan and won't hurt anyone in the future. I don't like DQ endings admittedly but they're not exactly a new thing in WWE.

But coming out of it, you've got the Reigns/Strowman/Lesnar fallout, Rousey as champion, Charlotte/Becky and more Styles/Joe and Miz/Bryan to look forward to. Hopefully that should make the fall better than the craptacular first two thirds of the year.

 

[TheTonetta]

Lesnar's gone after RAW, bro. He's done.